How to Piss Your Customers off --- GoDaddy Edition

If you have ever tried to read your mobile phone billing statement or you ever tried to renew some subscription online, you know that there are all sorts of money traps lurking just beneath the surface.  Despite the protests and the periodic messages you get about how they are ‘improving their statements’, what they are really doing is hiding all the relevant information.  Over the years I have seen perfectly readable (and itemized) monthly statements (I’m looking at you, Cox Communications!) become more and more obscure so that you have very little chance of understanding what you are being charged for.  

This, of course, is because the company you are dealing with does not want to explain to you why they are charging you.  It is also the reason they hire phalanxes of idiot customer service representatives.  The worse these people are, the more likely you are to hang up without having to be told the truth.

My current problem is with GoDaddy.com.  Yes, I do have a vanity website (which I won’t tell you where it is) and, although I haven’t updated it for years, I still do want it available.  It was created with Microsoft Frontpage (about 2001 I think) and since I no longer have that program, it would be a hassle to try and download the whole structure to being to work on it.

So I’ve been hosting with GoDaddy for a number of years and it was only last year with I noticed that the marketing weasels had gotten a hold of the company.  

The first evidence is what I mentioned above.  When I got a notice from them for renewal, I noticed that the webpage I arrived at, was close to unreadable.  The page was very busy with advertisements, my ‘bill’ was in a small section at the center of the screen with a large amount of money required and my only option was to go to Checkout.

This, of course, was the old magazine subscription scam, where you get a decent price as a new customer, but, as a loyal renewing customer, you have the privilege of paying two to three times as much.  

At that time, I managed to argue them down to a semi-reasonable amount, however, it took a lot of my time to call ‘Customer Service’ and again, waiting for them to run back and forth to the person really making the decisions.

So, recently, I got another email alert from GoDaddy.  GoDaddy is very careful about informing me when I have to update credit card information.  I’ve also noticed that they are not very good about informing me when my website hosting is down, or if I’m not taking advantage of benefits I’ve already paid for.  GoDaddy is also one of those myriad of companies that will flood you with emails on sales or just about anything that will cost you more money.

 The fun began immediately with the email.  Under the bright red banner announcing ‘Credit Card Expiration Notice’, was a dire warning that I should renew my products now and not have to lose all my stuff.  The email did not include any convenient links so that I could update my credit card info.  Of course not, that would not net them any money.  To update your credit card info, you have to log into your account, at which point you are confronted with a page full of advertisements and the only link relevant to what you want to do is a small black box, ‘My Account’ in the upper left.  Then you are confronted with a menu that includes a lot of stuff you don’t have.  You have to click on the payment tab, click on the small link that says ‘View Payment Types’, then click on the Visa or Mastercard link next to the last four digits of your account number.  As you noticed, there is no simple tab or link to ‘My Account Information’ or ‘Update My Account Information’, nor do they tell you what link to hit to update your credit card info.  There is, however,  a large box for ‘ExpressCheckout’.

The interface is damned awkward!

Now I got myself into trouble, unknowingly, by noticing a menu tab for expiring items.  I clicked on that so that I could renew without having to come back to this abortion of a web interface next month, or so I thought.  The renewal button brought me to a statement that gave me the one (1) option of paying a horrendous amount of money for 2 years of hosting.  But then it did something else.  It presented me with a list of options for hosting.  Noticing that there was an option for half the price they were expecting me to pay, I click on that, and, like a smart consumer, removed the higher price at the checkout.  I proceed to checkout and suddenly I’m confronted with a ‘Getting Started Page.’

Hmm, why should I get a getting ‘started page’?  After all I’ve been hosting with them for ten years!  So I click the button.  I’m asked which domain to attach to the hosting.  When I try to enter my domain, there is a quick flash of some red text, too fast to read it and then I’m back to the same question and the same blank box.  Finally I try enough times to read the error message.  It tells me I can’t attach my domain to that hosting.

I’ve tried really hard not to have to call customer support.  If you’ve read what I’ve gone through with various customer support systems, you understand that  a) I won’t get anywhere, b)There will be a distinct last of expertise on the other end of the line and c) I won’t get anywhere.

I call GoDaddy support.  It’s a little shorter set of menus, I only have to enter my customer number and I get through to a support person surprisingly fast.  However, he doesn’t identify himself, this may not be good.

The first piece of information I discover is that the hosting I’ve just paid for is only for new hosting (remember the magazine scam I mentioned earlier).  He says that to use the new hosting, I have to cancel the old hosting then attach the domain to the new hosting, but, before that, make sure I backup my website and then upload it to the new hosting.  Wait a minute!  You mean that this technology company can’t move my website over?  I ask this knowing full well that my website does not really have to move, all they do is make some changes to my account.  The harddrive it’s on makes no difference.  I go after the hosting also:  “Why doesn’t the page tell you that the low price is only for new hosting?   Why doesn’t the page tell you that?  You mean I supposed to happily pay twice as much for a renewal?  That’s stupid!”

The response I get is crass:  “I’m sorry you feel that way, sir.”

EXCUSE ME?  I SHOULD FEEL THAT PAYING TWICE AS MUCH FOR THE SAME ITEM IS NOT STUPID?

Of course, this customer support person is pretty much unarmed when it comes to an argument.  I state my case without yelling.  His only response is to go running off to his supervisor.  This is the usual scam that you find in car dealers where the sales person sympathizes with you, however, his boss says….

He comes back with a couple of alternatives:  Yes, they can move my website for me, but it would cost $150.  I laugh in his face.  I would be paying $150 for nothing.  Of course, that is the whole idea to make money off the customer with a return of almost nothing.  This is GoDaddy’s customer service at its best.  Do for the customer only if it’s lucrative.

Then, of course, I’m misled.  He tells me they are willing to update my hosting for an extra 18 months for nothing.  That’s what he said, but that’s not what the meaning was.  What he should have said that he’d transfer the purchase I just made to my old hosting which would calculate out to 18 months at the inflated renewal rate.  Unfortunately I didn’t catch that until I got off the phone.

I always wondered when the mission of customer service switched from helping the customer to tricking the customer into paying more.  Yes, a company is in business to make a profit.  Years ago, companies would invest a certain amount of money and expect a certain percentage return.  Now, it seems that we have company officers desperately running after every rolling penny.  That’s not a pretty sight.

Of course now that I’ve had this ‘wonderful’ experience with GoDaddy, I’ll be looking for alternate hosting.  Maybe I’ll leave then come back.  Then again, I’ve never gone back to AT&T.

The unfortunate part of this is that when someone from GoDaddy reads this, the customer service person I talked to, who had nothing to do with the policies that caused the problem, will probably get a reprimand.  The ugly marketing SOB that created this mess will never think about it has he flies to his 2^nd vacation home.